164 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 70. Similarly Cornutus says that “Hades is fabled to have carried off Demeter’s daughter because the seed vanishes for a time under the earth,” and he mentions that a festival of Demeter was celebrated at the time of sowing (_Theologiae Graecae Compendium_, 28, pp. 54, 55 ed. C. Lang). In a fragment of a Greek calendar which is preserved in the Louvre “the ascent (ἀναβάσις) of the goddess” is dated the seventh day of the month Dius, and “the descent or setting (δύσις) of the goddess” is dated the fourth day of the month Hephaestius, a month which seems to be otherwise unknown. See W. Froehner, _Musée Nationale du Louvre, Les Inscriptions Grecques_ (Paris, 1880), pp. 50 _sq._ Greek inscriptions found at Mantinea refer to a worship of Demeter and Persephone, who are known to have had a sanctuary there (Pausanias, viii. 9. 2). The people of Mantinea celebrated “mysteries of the goddess” and a festival called the _koragia_, which seems to have represented the return of Persephone from the lower world. See W. Immerwahr, _Die Kulte und Mythen Arkadiens_ (Leipsic, 1891), pp. 100 _sq._; S. Reinach, _Traité d’Epigraphie Grecque_ (Paris, 1885), pp. 141 _sqq._; Hesychius, _s.v._ κοράγειν. M36 Thank-offerings of ripe grain presented by Greek farmers to Demeter after the harvest. Theocritus’s description of a harvest-home in Cos. 165 Theocritus, _Idyl._ vii. M37 The harvest-home described by Theocritus fell in autumn. 166 In ancient Greece the vintage seems to have fallen somewhat earlier; for Hesiod bids the husbandman gather the ripe clusters at the time when Arcturus is a morning star, which in the poet’s age was on the 18th of September. See Hesiod, _Works and Days_, 609 _sqq._; L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 247. 167 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, p. 190 note 2. M38 The Greeks seem to have deferred the offering of first-fruits till the autumn in order to propitiate the Corn Goddess at the moment of ploughing and sowing, when her help was urgently needed. 168 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, p. 190 note 2. 169 Hesiod, _Works and Days_, 383 _sq._ 170 L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 242. 171 Compare Xenophon, _Oeconomicus_, 17, ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ὁ μετοπωρινὸς χρόνος ἔλθῃ, πάντες που οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὸν θέον ἀποβλέπουσιν, ὅποτε βρέξας τὴν γῆν ἀφήσει αὐτοὺς σπείρειν. 172 August Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum_, p. 193. 173 See above, pp. 44 _sqq._ M39 The festival of the _Proerosia_ (“Before the Ploughing”) held at Eleusis in honour of Demeter. 174 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 283 _sqq._